The destruction of a Sh8.2 billion methamphetamine consignment in Mombasa has renewed the focus on the people who finance and profit from the drug trade, with Director of Public Prosecutions Renson Ingonga calling for the masterminds behind such operations to be pursued.
Ingonga said the seizure and destruction of narcotics should not be treated as the final step in a drug trafficking investigation, arguing that authorities must use such cases to uncover the wider networks behind the shipments.
The DPP spoke on Thursday, September 24, 2026, at Bamburi Cement in Mombasa, where more than one tonne of methamphetamine was destroyed in the presence of Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen and other justice-sector officials.
The consignment weighed about 1,036kg and was intercepted in the Indian Ocean in October 2025 during a joint maritime operation involving several security agencies.
“We must move beyond arresting the courier at the end of the chain,” Ingonga said.
He said investigators should establish who paid for the drugs, who arranged their movement, how money connected to the operation was transferred and the individuals who eventually received the proceeds.
Ingonga said this would help shift investigations from the people found physically transporting narcotics to the wider criminal structures that make the trade possible.
He said drug trafficking was no longer limited to simple movement of illegal substances, noting that criminal groups had developed cross-border operations supported by technology and complex financial arrangements.
According to the DPP, Kenya's coastline, location and links to international transport routes have also made it attractive to international drug trafficking networks.
The methamphetamine destroyed in Mombasa had been seized from a vessel in the Indian Ocean and later featured in a major trafficking case before the Shanzu Law Courts.
The drugs were retained as exhibits during the court process before their destruction was carried out in line with the required legal procedures.
Several agencies and international partners were involved in the operation, including the Kenya Navy, Kenya Coast Guard Service, police and other law-enforcement bodies.
Ingonga said the conclusion of the destruction exercise should instead open another phase of the fight, particularly efforts to trace money and property acquired through drug trafficking.
He said the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions would continue building specialised prosecution capacity and pursue mutual legal assistance, asset tracing, forfeiture and recovery.
The measures, he said, would help authorities go after the financial interests behind narcotics trafficking and weaken the networks that depend on proceeds from the illegal trade.
Ingonga commended the agencies involved in the investigation and prosecution of the case, including the Directorate of Criminal Investigations and its Anti-Narcotics Unit, Kenya Coast Guard Service, Kenya Navy, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and the United States Department of Justice.
The event came on the same day Murkomen announced changes to the country's anti-narcotics investigations structure.
The Interior Cabinet Secretary said the Anti-Narcotics Unit had been upgraded into the National Anti-Narcotics Investigations Bureau as part of efforts to strengthen the fight against drug trafficking.
Murkomen said the number of specialised officers had increased from 200 to 405. He also said the government was procuring 20 vehicles while improving intelligence, surveillance, forensic and financial-investigation capabilities.
Ingonga welcomed the progress made through the operation but said the destruction of the drugs alone could not be taken as the measure of success in fighting narcotics.
“The destruction we witness today is a milestone. But it is not the end of the fight,” Ingonga said.
He said authorities should also consider whether criminal networks had been dismantled, proceeds from illegal activities recovered, cases successfully prosecuted and communities protected from narcotics and transnational organised crime.
The DPP said the continued focus on financiers, organisers and beneficiaries would be key to disrupting the wider networks behind the movement and sale of illegal drugs.